The present invention relates generally to surgery, and in particular embodiments to components and component combinations useful for performing tissue reconstructive surgery, especially such surgery adapted to create an external, upstanding tissue structure such as a nipple.
Tissue reconstructive surgeries are often performed after a natural tissue structure has been damaged or surgically removed or modified due to disease, injury or other causes. One relatively common reconstructive surgery involves breast reconstruction after mastectomy or other cancer-related surgeries. A surgeon rebuilds the breast, typically so it is about the same size and shape as it was before the mastectomy. The nipple and the darker area surrounding the nipple (the areola) can also be surgically reconstructed.
Several types of breast reconstruction surgery are known. Options include a newly shaped breast with the use of a breast implant, the use of a tissue flap from the patient, or a combination of the two. Nipple and areola reconstructions are usually the final phase of breast reconstruction. This surgery is done to make the reconstructed breast resemble the original breast more closely, and is an important consideration in acceptable patient outcomes in the overall breast reconstruction surgery. It is usually done after the new breast has had time to heal, which may be several months after the original surgery.
In today's practice, the tissue used to rebuild the nipple and areola is taken from the patient, such as from the newly created breast, opposite nipple, ear, eyelid, groin, upper inner thigh or buttocks. Tattooing may be done to match the color of the nipple of the other breast and to create the areola. A challenge that arises in creating a reconstructed, upstanding nipple, is that the volume and/or height of the originally reconstructed nipple is often lost over time as the patient heals.
There remain needs in the area of tissue reconstruction for components, kits and strategies that facilitate the retention of desirable appearance qualities, such as height and/or volume, of reconstructed, upstanding external tissue structures such as nipples. In several embodiments, the present invention is addressed to these needs.